Conventional internal welders frequently include internal alignment mechanisms that expand radially outward to contact the interior of the pipe. Alignment of the two pipe segments is accomplished from inside when extension members of a central member contact the interior of the pipe relatively close to the pipe segment joint faces on either side of the joint as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,461,264; 3,009,048; 3,551,636; 3,612,808 and GB 1261814 (which is each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). In order to weld the joint, the structure of the expander must allow sufficient space to accommodate a rotating torch. It would therefore be advantageous to provide internal alignment that allows sufficient space for a rotating or articulating torch or to align the pipe segments externally so as to eliminate the need for an internal expander which may create significant internal clutter.
In addition, the conventional process of internal welding usually involves internal or external alignment and an insertion of the internal welder so that torches align with the face joint. In this process it is sometimes difficult to assess the accuracy of positioning of the internal welder in general and the torch in particular. It is even more difficult to assess the accuracy of the position of the torch as the torch traverses the inside of the pipe along its orbital path during welding. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a system of tracking the structure of or positioning of pipe edges at the pipe interface in order to control the torch by use of the tracked condition of the interface. Specifically, it would be advantageous to first track a profile of the interface with a laser before sending a signal to an electronic controller to direct the position and orientation of the welding torch relative to the tracked pipe interface profile.
Furthermore, conventional pipeline welding systems that employ external alignment mechanisms typically support two segments on rollers and manipulate the position and orientation of the segments until alignment is satisfactory. Whether an alignment is satisfactory typically will depend, for example, on industry acceptable high-low gauges that are fairly accurate but are manually operated and positioned at discrete locations and not over the entire pipe interface. In any case, the profile or structure of the interface as observed from the inside of the pipe is not typically a consideration for quality of alignment. It would therefore be advantageous to provide an alignment system in which information about the interface profile as read by the laser is used as an input parameter during the external alignment process. Specifically, it would be advantageous to provide the information from the torch controlling laser to the controller which would utilize the information in controlling external alignment mechanisms.
Moreover, conventional pipeline systems for welding pipe segments will typically lack a capability to visually inspect the weld applied by the torch. It therefore would be advantageous to provide a camera that followed the torch weld application and a display for showing an image of the weld in order for an operator to visually inspect the quality of the weld.
Other advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent by review of this disclosure. Patentable advantages are not limited to those highlighted in this section.